Five columns. Five large glass columns guard the entrance to the DEVNET pavilion. And they are not just any columns. No, they contain a special meaning. The four outer columns are filled with water. Neither this is just any kind of water. It is water from the Yellow River, from the Yangtze River, from Beijing's Tiananmen Square and from Canadian sources.

Dear Ladies and Gentleman

I may say that today is one of those days that DEVNET has been preparing for a quarter of a century, since 1985 when China became one of the nine first founding members of our international information network.

During these 25 years, DEVNET always tried to do its best to support and communicate to the rest of the world the opening and reform process that China, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, its government and its Communist Party was starting to carry on.

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